The Woodrow Wilson Center Press

Gender and Islam in Africa: Rights, Sexuality, and Law

Gender and Islam in Africa examines ways in which women in Africa are interpreting traditional Islamic concepts in order to empower themselves and their societies. African women, it argues, have promoted the ideals and practices of equality, human rights, and democracy within the framework of Islamic thought, challenging conventional conceptualizations of the religion as gender-constricted and patriarchal.

The contributors come from the fields of history, anthropology, linguistics, gender studies, religious studies, and law. Their depictions of African women’s interpreting and reinterpreting of Islam go back into the nineteenth century and up to today, including analyses of how cultural media such as popular song and film can communicate new gender roles in terms of sexuality and direct examinations of religious and religiously based family law and efforts to reform them.

Margot Badran is a historian of women and gender issues in Muslim societies. She is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a Senior Fellow at the Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University. Her most recent book is Feminism in Islam.

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What People are Saying

“Margot Badran has assembled 12 articles by outstanding scholars and ethnographers in the fields of African Studies and Islamic Studies. By focusing on political, social, and economic societal micro-processes that are often ignored in text-focused Islamic legal studies, this volume helps reveal how particular conceptions of Islamic law are naturalised and valenced ‘a historical’ in particular African societies.”—Sarah Eltantawi, Journal of Modern African Studies

“The volume provides a much welcome contribution to the literature on Islam and gender in Africa, and will be of interest to graduate students and scholars alike.”—Michelle Johnson, International Journal of African Historical Studies

“This book both presents new and original work and provides a glimpse at the state of the art among scholars who have a sustained commitment to an extremely difficult and contentious topic.”—Barbara M. Cooper, Rutgers University

Chapter List

Preface

Introduction: Gender and Islam in Africa—Rights, Sexuality, and LawMargot Badran

Part II. Re/constructing Women, Gender, and Sexuality5. Changing Conceptions of Moral Womanhood in Somali Popular Songs, 1960–1990Lidwien Kapteijns6. Guidelines for the Ideal Muslim Woman: Gender Ideology and Praxis in the Tabligh Jama‘at in the GambiaMarloes Janson7. Titanic in Kano: Video, Gender, and IslamHeike Behrend8 Shari‘a Activism and Zina in Nigeria in the Era of HududMargot Badran

Part III. Shari‘a, Family Law, and Activism9. Women and Men Put Islamic Law to Their Own Use: Monogamy versus Secret Marriage in MauritaniaCorinne Fortier10. Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Morocco: The Making of the Mudawana ReformJulie E. Pruzan-Jørgensen11. Family Law Reform in Mali: Contentious Debates and Elusive OutcomesBenjamin F. Soares12 Legal Recognition of Muslim Marriages in South AfricaRashida Manjoo